Contents

Gameplay

Like previous entries, Burnouts is a racing video game well known for its emphasis on aggressive driving and high sense of speed. In-race rewards are given to a player if they take risks such as driving towards oncoming traffic or deliberately attempting to make their opponents crash. The series' signature crash mode returns in Burnouts.

Customization

Burnouts is the first game in the series to feature vehicular customization. In the car customization menu, cars can be altered with performance upgrades and visual upgrades, such as paint colors, vinyls, neon, custom front and rear bumpers, custom side skirts, spoilers, custom hoods, exhaust tips, roof scoops, and wide body kits.

Players have the ability to increase their car’s performance by applying performance upgrades to the car. The player can upgrade their car’s engine, drivetrain, suspension, tires, engine control unit (ECU), and reduce the car’s weight (in the form of “weight reduction packages”).

Plot

Burnouts is the first game in the series to feature a story. The game features playable characters from Disney, Pixar, and Star Wars.

Story

In 2019, Darth Vader has discovered a small but powerful relic, ("in the shape of a baseball with a spoiler and a front tire"), that could cause massive destruction to the universe. It's up to Luke Skywalker, and the Disney characters to enter the driver's seat and stop Darth Vader's plan on global destruction.

Development

On March 16, 2015, Konami announced that it had restructured its video game development operations to "[shift] our production structure to a headquarters-controlled system, in order to establish a steadfast operating base capable of responding to the rapid market changes that surround our digital entertainment business." The same day, references to Kojima and Kojima Productions were stripped from promotional material and websites relating to the Metal Gear series, Kojima's Los Angeles studio was renamed Konami Los Angeles Studio, a new Metal Gear Solid Twitter account without a reference to Kojima in its username was established, and the Kojima Productions website began to redirect to the Metal Gear Solid website instead. That day, Kojima also posted a photo on his personal Twitter account captioned "heading off", and a Konami filing stated that as of April 1, 2015, he would no longer be among Konami's executive officers. These actions led to speculation that Kojima was planning on leaving the company after the release of The Phantom Pain, which he has described as being a conclusion of the Metal Gear series.[1][2]

On March 19, an anonymous employee reported to GameSpot that these changes were a result of conflicts between Kojima and Konami. The employee stated that Kojima and his staff were now being treated as contracted workers rather than employees, Konami had blocked access to their corporate e-mail and phone systems (thus restricting their communications), and that Kojima and the studio's senior staff planned to leave Konami in December 2015 following the conclusion of their contracts and the release of The Phantom Pain.[1] A Konami spokesperson denied that Kojima was leaving the company, and stated that he would still be involved with Konami and the Metal Gear franchise.[2]

On March 20, Konami made a public statement on its website, stating that Kojima would be staying with the company through at least the completion of The Phantom Pain, and that it was recruiting new staff to lead the development of future Metal Gear games.[3] Kojima himself confirmed in a statement that he was still "100% involved" in the completion of The Phantom Pain, and was "determined to make it the greatest game I've directed to date."[4]MGS V voice actress Donna Burke claimed in a posting on Twitter that Kojima had actually been fired, although Konami denied these claims and Burke revoked her statement.[5]

On July 10, 2015, Akio Ōtsuka, who provided the Japanese-language voices of Solid Snake and Naked Snake, tweeted that Kojima Productions had closed its doors and the studio will not seek any future activity nor will it partner up on any future Konami-based projects.[6]

In December 2015, Kojima Productions was nominated for Developer of the Year at The Game Awards 2015, but lost out to CD Projekt RED.[7] Kojima was reportedly blocked from attending the event by Konami's lawyers, requiring voice actor Kiefer Sutherland to accept awards for The Phantom Pain on his behalf.[8]

On December 16, 2015, in a joint announcement with Sony Computer Entertainment, Kojima announced that a new Kojima Productions would be established as an independent studio with other former Konami staff members, including artist Yoji Shinkawa and producer Kenichiro Imaizumi.[9] The studio also announced that it would be developing a new franchise, the first title of which will be console exclusive to the PlayStation 4.[10] Kojima stated that he "will be taking on a new challenge by establishing my own independent studio, and I am thrilled to be able to embark on this journey with PlayStation, who I have continued to work with all these past years."[11]

In November 2016, Electronic Arts announced and they would collaborate on three games with Kojima Productions.

Burnouts is the first game in the series to be developed for the eighth generation consoles. The game was announced in 2016 along with Dead Space 4, and Doraleous & Associates. The PC version will run on 1080px.

Due to the negative response on Need for Speed for the inability to pause the game, no cockpit view, no manual transmission, and online requirement only, EA announced that Burnouts will NOT need always online, players will have the ability to pause the game, and have a cockpit view, and will have manual transmission.

Music

The game's soundtrack features 21 songs from 19 artists. The game score was composed by Steve Jablonsky.

Release

Burnouts will be released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in the Fall of 2017 along with Battlefield 5.